Typically, customers initiate financial transactions by paying a merchant cash or using a physical card that stores the customer's financial account information. In either case, the customer may have to wait for a merchant employee or a self-service checkout device to become available so that the customer and merchant can conduct the transaction. When a customer uses a card (e.g., debit or credit card), the customer or a merchant employee usually must scan or swipe the card through a device that can read the card and determine which financial account will be used for the transaction. The customer may also have to enter a pin number, provide a signature, and/or confirm the transaction is correct as read by the device before the transaction can be processed and completed.
While this may be a typical manner in which transactions take place, it creates several drawbacks. For example, since each transaction requires the customer to stop and directly interact with the merchant to provide payment and/or payment information, customers are often forced to wait in lines and interact with merchants before they can move on from the transaction (e.g., before they can move into a location for which he/she has paid for entry, leave a store with a purchased item, etc.).
Merchants also experience drawbacks due to typical payment procedures. For example, most merchants must hire and train employees to accept payments from customers and/or operate checkout equipment. Also, physical merchant locations (e.g., retail stores, museums, stadiums, etc.) usually must devote valuable floor space to checkout equipment (and/or ticketing/entry equipment) and an area for customers to wait in line to checkout (and/or enter).
Due to these and other drawbacks associated with current transaction systems, customers and merchants inefficiently spend time and money to conduct transactions. Therefore, a need exists for technology allowing for, among other things, quicker and more efficient means for initiating and authorizing transactions.